Illustration by Jane Bell
Fall Festival, September 14, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Help celebrate the fall season at the 20th Annual Fall Festival at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. This free family event features outdoor activities for all ages. Climb up on the Refuge bulldozer and other heavy equipment. Try your hand at target archery or build a chickadee nest box to take home. Check out what’s in the Passaic River with river seining. There will be live turtles, snakes, frogs and fish. Our environmental partners will be on hand with displays and hands-on activities. Winners of the 2019 Photo Contest will be announced at 11:30 a.m. Enjoy hot dogs on the grill and this year’s fall apples. It’s all free, with plenty of parking.
This year our theme is Bats – the only flying mammal. There will be information about New Jersey’s nine species of bats, bat life history, myths, and the current status of the deadly disease – White Nose Syndrome – which has killed 7 million bats since it arrived in the northeast in 2006. There will also be bat prizes for our bat activities and games and an original play “At Bat”.
Join us at the Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, 32 Pleasant Plains Road, Harding Township, NJ (exit 30A from Route 287). This is a rain or shine event. Co-sponsored by Friends of Great Swamp NWR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For more information call 973-425-9510.
For most of us, a trip to the refuge means a stop at the Visitor’s Center and some time on the boardwalks at the Wildlife Observation Center. But if raw nature is what you crave, skip these man-made contrivances and head over to the Wilderness Area. Here you can wander through a primeval forest dedicated to providing a natural habitat for a diversity of species. And that includes you. Unlike the rest of the refuge, there are no limitations as to where you can trek. Stay on the trail or plunge into the brush, whichever you prefer.
At 3,660 acres, the Wilderness Area comprises about half of the entire refuge; including almost everything east of Long Hill Road. About 8 miles of marked trails wind through the area with access points, and parking lots, distributed around the perimeter. These trails are somewhat rugged and not recommended for children or those with limited mobility. They can also be quite wet and buggy, particularly in the summer months. So leave the sneakers at home and wear sturdy, waterproof shoes or better yet, knee high boots. And don’t forget the insect repellant.
Your reward will be an experience that is hard to duplicate in this part of the country. Complete isolation from the civilized world, and a sense of what things were like before we arrived on the scene. And for birders and photographers, the opportunity to get up close and personal with your quarry. Of course, the experience will vary greatly with the seasons. With the arrival of colder weather the ground becomes more navigable, and snowfall will bring out the cross country skiers.
A trip to the refuge can still include the Visitor’s Center or Wildlife Observation Center. But if adventure is what you crave, check out the maps and information on our Wilderness Hiking page. And have fun.
Wilderness Hiking Safety
• Bring your cellphone. A reliable navigation app could be useful.
• Take a trail map.
• Travel with a companion.
• The sun sets early in the winter months, so take that into account.
• Be sure someone knows your whereabouts.
Cyclists and turtles are two common road hazards encountered in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge this time of years. We do our best to avoid the cyclists and hopefully they participate in the effort. But if not, we have insurance. Turtles, on the other hand, seem to lack the natural defenses needed to keep them from becoming roadkill. There they go, s-l-o-w-l-y crossing the road as they travel to their preferred nesting site. What are we to do?
Most obviously, try not to kill them. But if you’re not in a hurry and you don’t mind communicating with nature, you can pull over and give them a hand, so to speak. First determine if it’s a snapping turtle. If you’re not sure, assume it’s a snapping turtle. Be very careful with these critters as their jaws can inflict serious damage. If you want to err on the side of caution, do not attempt to move these. However, you can wait patiently for it to continue its journey to the other side while you direct traffic.
If it’s not a snapper you can just lift it up by the sides of the shell and move it to the edge of the road, facing the same direction in which you found it. Otherwise, here is a short video from the Toronto Zoo which demonstrates good turtle moving techniques (thanks to the Friends of Blackwater NWR for this link). Our refuge is home to these turtles, and we need to do our part to share the road with them. Also, cyclists.
Here are some of the sightings reported by visitors at the Wildlife Observation Center. Mark your calendars and come to Great Swamp NWR to experience the arrival of spring.
March
Listen for the “peent” call of the American woodcock. It’s peak duck season through mid-April, but that “quacking” call you hear may be the wood frogs, always in a hurry—calling and mating early—check for egg masses in the vernal pools. The tiny spring peepers produce a deafening spring chorus. Northern water snakes are basking on the tussocks trying to warm up. Ribbon and garter snakes are on the move as are spotted turtles. On a warm day, look for basking painted turtles. The skunk cabbage flower is almost gone by, but take a close look at the red glow on the maples—their tiny red flowers.
The Eastern phoebe arrives—look for the wagging tail as it calls its name. Ducks are still active—migrating blue-winged teal are late arrivals. Look quickly as the mourning cloak butterflies flit past; they get an early start by overwintering as adults. The tiny blue spring azure is also an early butterfly. Spring ephemerals begin their brief flowering cycle – the bright yellow trout lily is one of the first to bloom.
April 1- 15
Tree swallows appear, seemingly overnight, gracefully swooping through the air. The early warblers—palm and pine arrive. The small blue-gray gnatcatcher can be seen as well as the great egret slowly stalking on the ponds. Bullfrogs and green frogs join the chorus. In the woods, look for the white clouds of the shadbush’s early bloom, before the other trees have leafed out.
April 16 -30
The songbird migration is picking up: look for Eastern kingbird, or an early black and white warbler. The mallard is already on her nest. More flowers rush to bloom taking advantage of the intensity of spring sun before trees leaf out, creating shade: carpets of the pink-striped spring beauty, star flower, dwarf ginsing, wood anemone.
May 1–15
It’s the peak of spring songbird migration—the woods are full of color and sound. Listen for the haunting call of the thrushes. Vireos and brilliantly-colored migrating warblers abound. The tiny ruby-throated hummingbird buzzes past. Spring ephemerals are giving way to showy summer flowers: golden ragwort, the spectacular pinxter azalea, the blue flag iris, the floating yellow spatterdock. All too soon, summer arrives.
Things just aren’t the same at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge today – due to the partial government shutdown. The Refuge staff has been furloughed. They are not being paid, and their work is not being done, creating a month-long backlog – so far!
The Visitor Center is closed although the trails are open. At the Wildlife Observation Center, the most popular visitor destination at the Refuge, the automatic gate has malfunctioned and cannot be repaired until the government shutdown has ended. So visitors have to park in the small area in front of the gate and walk in from there.
The Friends are also being affected negatively by this situation. The Nature Shop, located in the Visitor Center, is closed and Friends have received no income from sales in over a month. Regularly scheduled programs, such as the January Second Sunday program, had to be cancelled. Committee planning meetings have not been held, which affects development of the Calendar of Events, creating new interpretive exhibits, and outreach programs.
Volunteers donate their time and talents to the Refuge because it’s a place we care about. Right now, volunteers are also on leave and their projects are on hold. Plans to renovate the Garden Club Blind have been brought to a stand-still as well as other initiatives.
The Refuge works with a number of other partners and those workshops and programs have also been affected or cancelled due to the continuing shutdown.
The number of people affected by the shutdown at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is unknown, but as you can imagine, there is a ripple effect which touches many people directly or indirectly – whether they are U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, volunteers, visitors, partners, and those who would have participated in events, programs, or workshops.
Contact your Congressional representatives and urge them to end the shutdown so the staff can return to work, volunteers can resume their duties and Congress can get busy with the real issues – the reason we sent them to Washington in the first place.
Friday, November 30 through Sunday, December 2, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Start your holiday shopping at the Friends Nature Shop.
10% discount on all items – 20% discount for members
Not a member? Join any time. Your membership discount is effective immediately.
Check out our unique and original gift items for kids and adults; nature books, puzzles and games; sweatshirts, fleece, denim, hats and more. We will also have DVD copies of Saving the Great Swamp for sale.
Free parking, no lines, hands-on activities for kids in the Discovery Den.
All Nature Shop proceeds are used to fund Refuge projects – so you are also supporting your favorite place – Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
